Daychaser
by Punitor567
Summary: With the fall of the giants and the permanent dispatching of Gaia, there was finally a peace that lasted for seventeen years. But starting with the disintegration of all the good Cyclops and one harpy, and the appearance of stronger and smarter monsters, it falls to the next generation to defeat the greatest threat of all, or to be defeated and let the world plunge into the pit.
1. Prologue - The Times Are Changing

**So this is my first story for PJO. Had this idea for a while now, not that any of you care how long I've had it.**

**One thing really surprises me about PJO fanfics. (More than one, but I'll not bother with a 2000word rant). Why is it people always only use the Olympians? I mean, come on, there are hundreds and thousands of Greek deities, why must one always restrict oneself to the twelve. Ten, actually, but that doesn't stop people from using the other two.**

**Also, I'm not US-born, or a US citizen, so forgive any geographical errors I may make. I'll try not to, but you know, it can happen.**

**And one last thing: the main story of this is set about 17years after Blood of Olympus. I can see the cynics thinking: "Oh, **_**another **_**next gen fic." Yeah, kinda, but not entirely.**

**And without further ado, onwards.**

**Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus any more than Tartarus owns Percy and Annabeth.**

***~B~***

**Prologue: The Times Are Changing**

_USELESS MAGGOTS!_

Tartarus' enraged voice saturated the air. Monsters cowed in fear. Many flying monsters were pointlessly sucked into his vortex of a head. The ground shook violently, a testament to his fury.

The Maeonian drakon's corpse lay in front of Bob and Damasen, acting as a makeshift barricade against most monsters. Small Bob stood beside Bob, bones cracked and tailbone missing.

The Doors of Death vanished into nonexistence as Bob lifted his finger from the button. No matter what happened to them now, at least Percy and Annabeth could go on to defeat Gaea.

Bob didn't doubt it. There was no reason for them not to be able to defeat Gaea. He was completely confident that they would find a way. After all, they always did.

_WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING AROUND FOR? _Tartarus roared again. _FIND YOUR WAYS OUT! WHATEVER CRACK OR CREVICE YOU USED TO REACH THE MORTAL REALM BEFORE,_ he continued, moving towards Bob and Damasen, _GO THROUGH THOSE AND ERADICATE THE DEMIGODS!_

"Well, we've bought them time," Damasen said, positioning his lance. "What now?"

"What choice is left?" Bob replied. "We go down fighting."

Small Bob growled in agreement. A giant hand grabbed the drakon's corpse and flung it far away.

_You two, _Tartarus said. _You two shall be awarded a special kind of suffering._

"Do your worst, Father. It won't be enough," Damasen taunted.

_Oh, I will do better than my worst. I won't just merely destroy you. I will raze you to the ground over and over again, and have you regenerate the fastest in my realm. I will bring you back time and time again just to keep – AAARGH!_

Small Bob evidently had tired of Tartarus' speech and decided to skip to the biting.

_YOU – WILL – KNOW – AGONY!_

"Let's go," Damasen said, preparing to launch into one last desperate assault. Bob – no, Iapetus the Impaler – held up his broom, spear-point jutting out. As last stands went, it wouldn't be the worst.

The little light that existed in the depths of Tartarus – the place – suddenly dimmed. The raucous chaos of monsters leaving the scene to find an exit suddenly stopped. Even Tartarus – the being – paused. Bob watched as he turned away from him and Damasen and instead faced something to their far left.

_You? What are _you _doing out of your hole?_

***~B~***

**[Two weeks later]**

In a house somewhere in New York, Apollo materialized, and immediately stumbled against the wall for support, not out of physical weariness, but from dread of what lay in store for him.

"Where have you been?" a woman demanded. "You don't show up much anyway, but you left completely out of the blue months ago!"

Apollo turned his head towards her. "I'm not here with good news, though," he said.

"What the hell do you mean?"

He took a long shaking breath and answered, "I can't explain. You wouldn't understand. The important thing is I have to go now, likely permanently."

"No rhymes, no bad jokes?" the woman wondered aloud. "You don't sound good. But what do you mean you can't stay? In case you're blind, I'm pregnant! A god of medicine would be very helpful to have beside me right now."

"You're mistaking me for my son," Apollo replied, smiling wryly. "And in any case, it'd be my sister you need. But I can't stay."

"Why?" she demanded.

"I… I messed up. I messed up big time, and Dad isn't particularly pleased. It might be after a few centuries of pain that he'll forgive me."

"You're a god, aren't you? You're a god, and you're worried about pissing off your father? I need you here with me now!"

Thunder rumbled in the sky. Apollo grimaced. "He's noticed my absence. I'm really sorry, Claudia. But I need you to raise my child. I need you to raise her right. She has a trying future ahead of her."

"Sorry?" Claudia interjected. "What are you talking about?"

"I can see the future. Bits and pieces, and not very well. I have an Oracle for that. And in any case, the damned Python has shut down that power for now," Apollo continued, more to himself than her. "Before that happened, I saw a tiny glimpse of what is to come. And it is _not good._"

"And what does our child have anything to do with that?" Claudia demanded.

Thunder sounded again, but louder. Outside the window, the skies began to grow gray.

"Our child is destined to have a particularly difficult fate in the years to come. Claudia, I need you to promise me: raise her right, so that she can become what she has the potential to be: the greatest of all my demigod children."

"'Of all my demigod children'?" she repeated, incredulous. "Apollo, you're not making any sense! There is no way you can just dump our child on me alone and just run off!"

Lightning crackled. "I have to go," Apollo said. "Please, just do this for me. I'm sorry, but I have to go."

And with that, he vanished; almost at the instant he spoke the last syllable.

"Apollo! Damn you, Apollo, you cannot just leave me like this!" Claudia shouted at empty air, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. "Come back!"

*~B~*

**[Three and a half years later]**

Leo Valdez could not believe his luck.

Three years ago, he had the blessed fortune to crash-land onto the home of possibly the most beautiful girl in the universe and fallen for her. And then he found out that it became mutual.

Afterwards, he accomplished the impossible twice in quick succession. He died and came back, and in the process, managed to meet the girl a second time, a feat no one in history was allowed to accomplish, and brought her back with him.

He liked to think of it as flipping the bird at destiny. Calypso would obviously disagree, saying that it may have been his fate to break her free. Leo would counter by saying that putting it that way just wasn't romantic. She would laugh, as she did every time he made that argument, and it would be just a bit more worth it.

Now he wondered whether his child had inherited his ability of being awesome. Although, in this case, awesome could debatably double for being blessed with suck.

"… Leo?" Calypso spoke up in hushed tones, staring. "Isn't that supposed to be extremely rare?"

"And extremely dangerous," Leo replied. Anger began to bubble up slowly. He marched up a basin of water he kept near his workbench (in case anything caught on fire – which happened a lot) and threw a golden drachma into it.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show the godly bottle-cap maker."

When the basin failed to respond, Leo gritted his teeth. "Fine. Show me Hephaestus at Olympus."

Normally, this wouldn't have worked. Gods tended to be incredibly busy and in a lot of places at once. This time, as if sensing the urgency or hearing Leo call him a godly bottle-cap maker, his father responded.

"Hrm, well this is a surprise," Hephaestus said. "Iris said I should probably answer this one. Well, what is it you youngsters say when starting a conv–"

"Fire is supposed to be a rare ability, right?"

Hephaestus paused, slightly annoyed at being cut off. "Well, yes, but–"

"It's an ability you don't give to most of your kids because it's too dangerous right?" Leo interrupted again, his voice rising. Hephaestus narrowed what was visible of his eyes. "Now see here, it is entirely possible for you to use a civil–"

"Then how do you explain this?!" Leo half-shouted, pointing behind him. The blacksmith god looked past him, and his eyes widened. "Ah. I see."

Sitting inside a wooden cradle, Leo's three-month old daughter rocked happily, playing with the tiny fireballs her small hands were generating. The flames had very little heat, not enough to set the wood on fire, but there was no doubt they would strengthen over time.

"Hephaestus," Calypso began in a respectful tone, "Is it possible that this happened due to her being my child?"

"It's a possibility, yes," Hephaestus replied after a moment's hesitation.

Calypso winced. "So it is my fault, then."

"What are the other possibilities?" Leo demanded.

"… Simply put, that the Fates decreed it so. Regardless, it shouldn't be anything to worry about if you raise her right. And I really must go: business to attend to."

Without another word, he cut the Iris-message.

"…Calypso, I'll be right back after I beat the crap out of those old hags," Leo stated, grabbing his tool belt.

"Leo, wait! He has a point; if we look after her there should be nothing to worry about!"

"That ability destroyed my childhood!" Leo retorted. "That ability … it killed my mom."

"That ability also defeated Gaia, and brought you to me. And in doing so, it made little Espie possible," Calypso replied in a soothing voice. "You don't have to worry."

Leo sighed, and put down his tool belt. "How'd it bring me to you?"

"Well," she began, putting a finger to her lips in thought, "if you didn't have your fire, Khione wouldn't have hated you so much, and thus she wouldn't have blasted you to Ogygia and you would never have met me."

Leo chuckled at that. "So you're saying I should thank Khione for playing matchmaker?"

Calypso smiled at that. "I suppose."

Leo looked around at the surroundings of Bunker Nine. "Some place to raise a baby in," he said sarcastically. "Next thing you know, she'll have built her first toy robot at age two."

"Provided we keep her out of here before then. If she has your instinct of poking around for trouble, she'll kill herself seventeen times over in here."

"Oh, come on. Seventeen, really?"

"Fine, nineteen."

Leo smiled. "Well, my dad was right about one thing, at least. We have to raise her right. And to raise her right, we have to raise her here, at Camp Half-Blood."

*~B~*

**[Nine more years later]**

The hidden shelter was invisible to all without the necessary memories.

Fortunately for Mnemosyne, she did have all the necessary memories. She had all the memories. And the time was near for what only she and a select few knew to be revealed to the rest of the world. Her crime would finally have its consequences.

Despite that, she was ready to face them. Not facing them meant not revealing the lost chapter of history. And not doing so meant the inevitable doom of the mortal world.

A door seemed to open in the air in front of her, as a man hurried out. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Mnemosyne. The name, at least, you should know."

The man's eyes widened. "No… why now? Of all times in the world, why _now?_"

"It is as the Fates have woven," she responded.

"Can it be me? Tell me that it can be me instead of my child!"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it will be your child's burden to bear."

"There're already too many burdens!" the man shouted. "That stick is no laughing matter! And now you're going to add … why can't it be me instead?"

Mnemosyne had no answer for that. She continued, "Your child will need to go to the Roman camp and learn quickly. And your ancestry cannot be revealed to them straightaway. Not yet."

The man bowed his head in defeat. "Am I allowed to tell–?"

"No. Not until the time is right."

**[Fifteen years since the defeat of the giants]**

Jesse was seriously considering manipulating the river and pinning down that mischievous hippocampus. Every few minutes it jumped out deliberately and randomly, catching him off guard and trying to drench him.

If his father wasn't the son of Poseidon, he would've had to change his clothes nine times in the past hour.

Make that ten times.

"Geez, Uncle Tyson, keep your ride under control," Jesse grumbled.

Uncle Tyson laughed loudly. "Rainbow likes you. He just wants to play. And you're Percy's son, water shouldn't bother you."

"It shouldn't bother me if I keep up a constant guard, which gets irritating. Especially because I _can't _keep focusing on that alone. ADHD, remember?"

Uncle Tyson simply grinned, his single eye twinkling. Jesse didn't think there was possibly anybody else who could claim to have a Cyclops for an uncle. He'd always be the only one who could say "How cool is that?" about it.

Of course, until Espie commented that having a Titaness for a mom was cooler. At which point the naiads and dryads would complain to Chiron to stop them trying to out-annoy each other with their powers.

Today, she was off with her parents at their workshop in the city. He, of course, remembered to mention how the dryads had breathed a collective sigh of relief at that. And he'd fallen in the river for his trouble. At which point Rainbow showed up.

And the day was going so good, too.

"You enjoy annoying others, but you can't stand it yourself, hm?" Tyson asked.

"Hey, don't make me out to be a hypocrite."

"But you are."

"I never denied it."

"'Hypocrite. Noun. A person who pretends to have virtues morals or beliefs, etc., that he or she does not possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs. Also: actor, faker and phony," a new voice said.

"And here comes the dictionary,"

"I am not a dictionary. I am a harpy."

"A harpy named Harpy."

"My name is Ella, not Harpy."

"Which is Latin for 'harpy.'"

"Also Germanic for 'all'. And nice to see you too."

Jesse smirked, turning to face the new arrival. "Well, you know me, Aunt All. I'm not one for regular greetings."

Ella feigned irritation – she was very good at that – and went to sit on Tyson's shoulder. "Where is Percy?"

"Mom and Dad are in the Big House, chatting with Aunt Rachel and Grover. It's funny how Mr. D still insists on them not entering each other's cabins even though they're more than 30."

Ella laughed her odd laugh, putting one arm around Tyson's head. "Tell them we're going out for a walk. Tell Percy not to wait for Tyson at dinner."

"Uh, I'm just curious, but where do a Cyclops and a harpy eat on their date night?"

"We find places," Ella said simply.

"Riiight."

"Bye!" Tyson said, before turning to leave. And then it happened.

All the air at the camp seemed to freeze. Movement stopped. Rainbow the hippocampus went underwater and Jesse saw his silhouette swimming away rapidly and randomly, as if he didn't know which way to go.

Jesse felt as if gravity had suddenly increased, pulling at his very bones. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe.

He saw Tyson and Ella become stiller than statues. The odd feeling continued. Now, it felt like gravity was not just pulling him down, but in every direction.

He saw Tyson's eyes widen in some sort of primal fear. He turned to Jesse and opened his mouth.

Before he could utter a word, a shockwave passed over the camp. A kind of wind that pushed and pulled from all around. Jesse stumbled, and looked back at Tyson –

Just in time to see golden monster dust erupt upwards.

For a few seconds, he simply stood and stared at the spot where they were standing. Then he ran at top speed towards the Big House.

"Dad! DAD!"

*~B~*

**Aaaand cut.**

**Firstly, no, I didn't introduce every character I would be using already.**

**Secondly, in case anyone is making wild guesses, I'm planning to use authentic Greco-Roman gods. Difference is: as Mnemosyne mentioned about the "lost chapter" I'm going to be making a little something up for the purposes of this story.**

**You can think of this chapter as both a prologue and a trailer.**

**Lastly, yes, four of the mains are going to be the kids of the Seven. The MAIN protagonist though, well, next chapter.**

**That's it for now. Read and Review please.**

**Punitor567 out. El Psy Congroo.**


	2. I Rayleigh

**I can't be the only one whose ideas just vanish whenever they sit down to type something, am I? I actually wrote this WAAY before the prologue, which I wrote only a few days ago, but couldn't finish it properly. So here's chapter one, and more characters introduced.**

**To the Guest who reviewed: This is a fanfic. I am not trying to be, nor will I ever be, better than Master Rick Riordan at cliffhangers or at writing in general. Also, I have no idea what you even mean by 'u mal oun.'**

**Obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus.**

***~B~***

**I**

_**Rayleigh**_

Rayleigh thought spontaneous invisibility was bad enough. Of course, the hydra had to prove him wrong. His classmates screaming "Elephant!" didn't help his sanity either.

Rayleigh would have been fine with an ordinary school day. He'd go through the gates of Goode High, sit in his corner and occasionally fade out of sight. After all the time that had passed, he was used to it. It was the least strange aspect of his life.

If he thought about it honestly, he was grateful for it. A norm of high school, a time-honored tradition, was 'bully the loner.' Of course, now they treated him like an inhumanly silent creep. But at least they didn't bother him.

"… So do you understand now? You can't just skip school like that and not face consequences," Mr. Blofis continued. Fifteen faces of varying degrees of indifference looked back at him. "Especially you, Mr. Blackwood. You've got a record, you know."

Rayleigh smirked inwardly as he saw a few of his classmates start and look back, like, _that guy was here?_

"Mr. Blackwood? Do you understand?"

"I get it, Mr. Blofis," Rayleigh replied, bored.

"You also have to quit sneaking out of classes when you're even here."

_I've never skipped, I'm just never seen._

"Secondly, there's you, Miss Stone. You've been absent almost as much as Mr. Blackwood there."

"Teach, I'd rather you don't group me with that guy," a voice replied.

Mr. Blofis narrowed his eyes, but refrained from commenting. It wasn't hard to find the source; Rayleigh found the speaker almost instantly.

Robyn Stone was not even looking at the teacher. She was bored and she didn't even bother hiding that fact, twirling a strand of her long red hair with one finger. Rayleigh preferred to think of her as probably the rudest person he'd ever met. He'd seen many people like her before – condescending queen bees who liked to make their positions clear, especially towards those in the lower tiers of a school's hierarchy. Stone didn't swear or raise her voice. She simply always spoke her mind, regardless of whom she was speaking to.

Seemingly noticing Rayleigh looking in her direction, she turned towards him, earth-brown eyes condescendingly staring back at him. He looked away, towards his right instead.

At the other corner of the room, the other solitary person sat. At first glance, it was easy to mistake Ian Sleet for a statue. He never spoke unless necessary, and his tall and imposing stature, along with the square-rimmed glasses, exuded a coldness that made people avoid him. Those who talked to him faltered after a while due to his sky-blue gaze, like the blindingly open sky that hurt your eyes if you looked for too long.

Mr. Blofis droned on, lecturing the students at the front of the large, mostly empty classroom. Rayleigh wondered why they were using such a large room when there were smaller rooms available that better suited the number of students currently present. He also wondered why something else was feeling off.

Looking down the students seated on the right side of the classroom, he realized why. Around then, Mr. Blofis left the classroom after taking a phone call, and everyone began to talk animatedly. A few girls began gossiping in the far right corner – all except one.

Hana Rahim always objected to being called Asian. She claimed that when people said Asian, people always got the image of either Chinese or Japanese people. She insisted that they said Bangladeshi and not Asian. Her light brown skin and Snape-like curtains of hair made her stand out. Like Sleet, her height made people wary of her at first. Her calm and friendly personality, however, had gotten her many friends. The fact that she had to constantly correct people who thought her name was 'Hannah' was a bit of a running joke.

At the moment, she was nowhere near calm. She was strangely jittery and nervous, as if she was expecting something bad to happen.

Rayleigh didn't know why, and he didn't particularly care either. He looked back towards his left, just in time to see Stone's eyes widen in shock as she ducked out of her chair.

He got the answer as to why the next instant as all hell broke loose. The wall exploded inwards and a massive serpentine head roared its way in.

"Elephant!" screamed multiple voices. Unless the dictionary definition had changed, Rayleigh didn't think an elephant was a creature with a large-fanged and snakelike head.

Panic took over. He jumped out of his seat and ran from the head, pushing past other frenzied kids.

The thing ignored the screaming teenagers and instead looked directly at Rayleigh. Fear gripped him hard and refused to let go. _Now would be a pretty good time, _he begged himself.

His body, or rather his ability, listened, and the next instant he faded out of sight. The monster looked confused, moving its head left and right, trying to find him.

Rayleigh breathed out a sigh of relief. He saw Stone staring at the spot where he was standing, evidently having seen him fade out. He didn't get time to worry about it, since at that moment the second head appeared.

"What the hell is that?" a voice muttered close by. Startled, Rayleigh looked to his left and found Sleet staring at the massive two-headed beast. And right at that moment, it attacked.

The monster took two more steps into the room, and its two heads shot out in two different directions, one towards Sleet and the other towards Stone. The redhead shrieked and rolled out of the way, the monster's jaws slamming into the floor, as Sleet ducked under the other head, hastily crawling forwards towards the door.

"What _is_ that thing?" Stone yelled at no one. Surprisingly, she got a reply.

A chair flew at one of the heads with immense force and smashed against it, the jagged splinters falling in its eye. The creature roared, violently shaking its head and destroying multiple desks in an instant.

Rayleigh saw a figure run towards it, grabbing two of the fallen pieces of wood. The next second, he saw something impossible.

Hana Rahim jumped an impossibly long distance and impaled the monster's neck with both pieces of wood. The immense force behind the attack nailed the head to the opposite wall, the wood splintering at the edges. She jumped back and ducked as the second head whipped around, and as it passed over her, she drove another piece of wood through its lower jaw.

"It's a hydra," she said. "The two heads should have given it away, don't you think?"

All three of them stared at her. "What do you mean 'It's a hydra'? They don't even exist!" Stone shouted at her.

Hana smirked slightly and replied, "So you're saying we're all under some sort of hallucination and I just used that wall as a bulletin board for nothing?"

"…The others called it an elephant," Sleet said.

"The others can't see clearly like we can. Now stop standing here and–"

The hydra interrupted her, making a noise that hurt Rayleigh's ears.

"What does it want here?" Sleet asked.

Instead of Hana, Stone replied, "That guy. It's after that freak, isn't it? I saw him just disappear. He's definitely not normal!"

_That freak has a name, _Rayleigh thought to himself. Hana didn't look too phased. "Invisibility? Huh, that's a new one. You're right, but it's after the rest of us too."

The wooden spears that held the hydra in place were beginning to fall apart.

"I haven't got time to explain," Hana continued quickly. "That thing is gonna get free soon, and I can't kill it by myself, especially without my spear."

"Your _what?_" Stone spluttered. "And why the heck does it want us? I don't know about you, but I'm completely normal."

"You can see it, which means you're not," Hana retorted. "For the first time in your irritating life, try to listen, why don't you? If either of you have something you can do to help, then now would be the perfect time."

At this point, the wood was finally ripped to shreds as the hydra tore its head away from it.

"Anytime now," Hana said, looking a bit worried.

The hydra charged, and it was Ian who stepped forward. The temperature in the room dropped sharply. Rayleigh let out a breath, which turned into white mist. Luckily, no one saw the invisible smoker.

Ice crept along the walls and the floor. Upon reaching the hydra, it sped up rapidly, almost instantly freezing the monster.

Sleet let out a heavy breath. Beads of sweat had frozen on his forehead. "…Never tried anything that big before," he said, panting.

"You've tried that before," Hana asked curiously.

"Instant ice cubes was the best I'd done. This isn't likely to hold long."

"Someone better tell me what's going on and why I'm involved in this," Stone demanded.

Hana sighed. "Short version: Greek gods exist, and we're demigods."

All three of them stared at her. Stone shook her head. "No. No, no, no. I'm no demigod. I don't know about you two, but I am definitely no–"

"When that thing attacked, you jumped out of the way," Sleet countered. "As if you saw it coming before it happened."

Stone had no reply to that, and bit her lip in frustration. Rayleigh could see her fervently trying to think of some way to deny it.

Of course, he didn't accept it so easily either. If someone suddenly came up to him and told him Greek myths were real and he was a demigod, he would've called them crazy and walked away. That is, if he hadn't seen one person pin a mythical beast to a wall with _wood _fragments and another freeze it with the help of nothing.

Also, it wasn't easy to dismiss what he could do without explanation, so for now, he accepted it.

"We'll have time to chat later," Hana said. "But for now, we really need to leave."

"What happened here?"

All of them turned to the door and saw Mr. Blofis standing there. Sounds of panicked shouting and distant sirens emanated from the hallway and the broken wall respectively.

Mr. Blofis took in the scene, slowly moving his eyes from the four of them to the thawing hydra. Something told Rayleigh that it didn't look like an elephant to him.

To their surprise, he sighed in resignation. "Demigods?" he asked.

"Uh, yes, but how–" Hana began.

"Less talk, more walk. Come on."

The three of them followed him out. Rayleigh hesitated for a while, then decided, _Ah, what the heck. _He went after them, still invisible.

"Mr. Blofis, you're – you're mortal, aren't you?" Hana asked, confused. "How can you see that thing? Also, how do you know about–?"

"I've been able to see them just vaguely since Manhattan," Mr. Blofis said, which confused them further. "And I suppose I know about demigods because my son Percy is one."

"That doesn't answer crap," Stone grumbled.

Hana stared at him. "You're not Poseidon," she stated simply.

"Oh, you know Percy?"

"My dad speaks highly of him."

Mr. Blofis laughed. "Imagine that. I'm his step dad, actually. Ancient Greek sea gods wouldn't be teaching History here, would they?"

"Ancient marine life, maybe?" Ian muttered. Rayleigh held back a snicker.

The musings were cut short when something crashed behind them and the wall to their left melted. The freshly thawed hydra was right behind them, drooling acid that bubbled around its feet.

"Sleet?" Stone said pointedly. He shook his head. "Can't manage even an ice cube."

"Oh, that's too bad," a nasal, high-pitched voice said. "Guess I can kill you easily now."

They turned back to their front. "What – Amy?" Stone said.

The blonde with too much lipstick grinned very uncannily. "Two years, and you never even _suspected _anything. I guess I'm just that good, huh?"

"You – why?"

"'Why?'" she repeated, looking genuinely confused. "Robyn, dear, it's why we exist – to kill demigods. The predator and the prey. Especially you three. Oh, you have _no _idea how hard I had to fight for the honor of killing you myself."

The hydra roared impatiently, acid spraying from both heads.

"Oh, shut up!" Amy snapped at it. "You can have the mortal and the other one if you can find him. Pity the biggest catch got away."

Slowly, Rayleigh realized that she was talking about him. Then he realized she didn't know where he was either. He could get away, and forget all this ever happened.

He couldn't, though. Even if he tried, there was no way he could go back to an ordinary life after what he'd learned today. If there was one thing he hated, it was unanswered questions. But more than that, he needed to know. He needed to know why he was what he was, why he was different.

"Mr. Blofis?" Hana said suddenly. "Sorry about the new uniforms."

"What?"

"Well, that's enough chatter," Amy said. She looked past them, at the hydra. "Disable them."

The hydra reared its head back, ready to lunge. Hana opened her right hand.

A silver-bladed spear blasted through the far wall. Amy yelped and jumped aside, narrowly avoiding it. Hana spun and grabbed it, and in the same motion threw it at one of the hydra's heads. It lodged itself between the hydra's right jaws.

The spear flew back out from the flailing hydra. She grabbed it again and turned, stopping the point right before Amy. "Your move," she said.

Amy snarled and her image began to flicker. Her skin turned papery white. Her hands turned into claws. One leg shimmered and became bronze while the other now resembled a donkey's leg. Fangs appeared between overly red lips. Blonde hair flickered into a cascade of fire.

"Who – no, _what _are you?" Robyn demanded.

"An empousa, dear," Amy replied. "Now, die."

In front of them, Amy had grabbed onto the spear right below the blade, her strong grip making Hana struggle. Behind them, the hydra had gotten dangerously close, intent on trampling them. Rayleigh knew they were in a lose-lose situation. They needed a distraction. One of the two needed to be distracted, buying Hana more time.

Solution: break the vampire's nose.

Rayleigh reappeared beside Hana and Amy, and taking advantage of the latter's surprise, he punched her hard. Amy stumbled back, hands covering her nose. Wasting no time, Hana dashed to meet the hydra as the others hugged the walls. She sidestepped a spray of acid, kicked off from the wall and sliced its eye out.

"Blackwood?" Ian asked.

"She was getting annoying," Rayleigh replied, keeping his eyes on the she-devil in front of him.

Amy moved her hands away from her face and snarled. "So," she said, "you were still here."

"Tell me something I don't know. No, seriously."

"Then how about this?" Amy said, grinning maliciously. "If you go where the others are going, you will be killed anyway."

Rayleigh paused. "What are you talking about?"

"Camp Half-Blood. That's where that girl will be taking you. It's where all Greek demigods go. But," she continued, her unsettling grin widening, "none of you will find a home there. I'll be surprised if that god doesn't decide that _you _are too dangerous to be left alive."

"Don't listen to her," Mr. Blofis said. "These things can make you believe what they want you to."

"Teach, that's rude," Amy pouted. "Calling me a 'thing.' And for your information, I was never any good at manipulating the Mist, or at charmspeak. If not for that massive wipeout more than a decade ago, someone a lot stronger than me would be here killing you. But that doesn't matter. And I swear on the Styx that I'm telling the truth."

Rayleigh saw Mr. Blofis pale. "You know what that means don't you?" Amy continued. "He was never meant to be born. None of these four were, but him especially. You. Are. All. Mistakes."

The words stabbed through Rayleigh. Old scars threatened to open as he clenched his fists in anger.

"Hey."

Amy glanced past Rayleigh at Robyn. "You don't get to call me a mistake, flame-brain."

Irritation showed on the empousa's pale face. "Robyn, I've put up with you for two long years, constantly going to my sisters to maintain my disguise. After I'm done with him, it will be _such _a pleasure to finally break your neck–"

Rayleigh's left fist interrupted her, but this time she was ready. The sharp fangs dug into his fingers as once again she was knocked back. Rayleigh bit back a cry of pain, trying to stem the flow of blood, the loss of which was making him dizzy.

The empousa caught him off-guard. A claw shot for his stomach. Rayleigh stumbled back, but too slow. The claw left three long, stinging gashes across his stomach. Piercing pain disoriented him. His knees buckled and he fell, trying to support himself with his right hand, left hand tucked under his right shoulder. Blood pooled around him, spilling out from his middle.

The empousa licked the blood off her fangs. She raised her right claw, poised to strike. "Oh, and by the way, if you meet him, tell your dad I said hi."

The claw descended and Rayleigh was killed – was what would have happened.

A Swiss army knife flew with improbable accuracy and embedded itself dead center in Amy's forehead. The empousa's eyes widened as she staggered.

"Nice shot," Ian said.

"I'm never touching that again," Robyn muttered. "That was a lucky shot, though."

Rayleigh watched as the vampire crumbled into yellow dust. Behind them, the hydra let out a dying wail. He turned his head, and through his hazy vision, saw a long shaft wedged between its left jaws. The limp head flailed around as the hydra went into a frenzy, before convulsing and then finally crumbling.

"You could've just cut its heads off," Robyn called at Hana.

"I'm sorry, but do you even _know _what a hydra is?" she replied. The loss of blood then made Rayleigh lose consciousness.

When he came to a while later, he heard multiple voices.

"How did you do that?" he heard Mr. Blofis say.

"It's something my dad can do. Guess I got it from him." That was Hana.

"You still haven't told me everything yet." No guesses there.

"Do us all a favor, and shut up, Stone. There're others who can explain everything and that's where we're going."

Rayleigh groaned and tried to get up. "Hey, whoa, stay down," Hana said. She was sitting at his left, a hand pushing him down. "Your injuries might be gone but you still need to rest."

_My injuries? _Rayleigh clenched and unclenched his left hand. It felt fine. He brought his other hand to his stomach, expecting a sharp sting. It didn't happen. "How–" he began.

"Just something I can do," she answered, smiling slightly. "You won't believe how many times it's come in handy."

He tried to get up again, but couldn't even budge her hand. "I said, you need rest."

"I'm fine," he grumbled. "I can stand."

"…Well, if you say so," she complied, lifting her hand. He got up and scanned his surroundings. "Where are we?"

They were in the woods. Up ahead some distance away was a hill with a tree on top. Something golden glinted among the branches. If he squinted, a gigantic shimmering golden shape obstructed his vision.

Whatever it was, apparently Stone could see it clearly. Her jaw dropped. "What in the world?"

Hana looked in that direction. "Oh. I guess that's the statue."

"What statue?" Ian asked. Apparently he couldn't see it.

"You'll see when we get close."

Hana turned to Mr. Blofis. "You should be going back. This isn't your world." She winced. "Sorry, there wasn't a nicer way to say that."

Mr. Blofis smirked. "No need to tell me that anyways. If you see Percy, tell him he owes me a visit. Sally baked blue cake out of habit again."

"Wait, what?" Robyn asked.

"Never mind."

"Hang on," Rayleigh said. "All that stuff Amy said … what did she mean by 'you know what that means'?"

The smile faded from Mr. Blofis's face. "She – it – swore on the River Styx. Which means whatever she said, she really believed to be true."

That happy observation dampened the general mood. "Hey, just because she believed it doesn't mean it's actually true," Hana sighed, though she looked worried too. To her surprise, Rayleigh laughed. "It doesn't matter, really."

It was a hollow laugh, though nobody else noticed it.

"By the way, how did we get here in the first place?" he asked.

"Oh, we took my old Prius," Mr. Blofis said, pointing to a very old car with, strangely, hoof-prints on the roof. "Two decades old, and it's still reliable," he said fondly. "Good luck with whatever happens here," he said, before getting in the car and navigating away through the trees.

"Okay," Hana said to break the ensuing silence, "let's get going."

They had gotten as far as the base of the hill when a fireball exploded in front of them. Robyn flinched and stumbled back. Ian remained impassive, externally at least. Rayleigh took a few hurried steps back and Hana brandished her spear.

"Did I _ask _you to fire? I clearly remember _not _asking you to fire!"

All four of them looked up. A girl around fourteen years old stood near the top. She had caramel colored hair and looked vaguely Latino. She was wearing an orange shirt with some words on it and a sort of leather and metal tool belt and seemed to be arguing with a cannon.

"Do they look like monsters to you? Do they look like they have the odd tail, horn or tentacle? That aside, I _did not _ask you to shoot!"

If cannons could look ashamed, this one did.

The girl sighed, and then turned towards the four of them. She jogged down the hill, stopping at the spot that had been charred by the cannon.

"Right. Hi, my name's Espie! Is there a Titan among you?"

"Uh…" Hana said.

"Titan?" asked Ian.

The girl, Espie, paused. "Are you all new? Like, did you just find out what you are?"

"You mean how we're supposedly demigods?" Rayleigh said.

"Uh-huh."

"About that," interjected Robyn. "I think I deserve a few answers now."

Espie looked at the others' irritation and, in Ian's case, indifference, and said, "You'll understand everything once we're inside. Right now I need to know why Mr. D was freaking out about a Titan and a Minotaur. "So!" she finished, clapping her hands together, "any of you hiding an ox's head?"

Rayleigh had no idea what to make of that. Espie's almond-shaped eyes roved over them. "No? Okay then!" she said cheerfully. "Let's go–"

"Wait," said Hana. "What Minotaur?"

Someone else gave her an answer. Unfortunately, it was also an introduction.

A loud mooing sound emanated from the left, and a bull-headed man in a loincloth barreled out of the trees.

"Another one?" Robyn cried in exasperation.

"A hydra, an empousa, and now the Minotaur," Hana muttered. "Someone _really _wants us dead."

"_Now _fire!" Espie shouted.

The cannon up the hill swiveled towards the Minotaur. A bronze cannonball appeared in a window on its side. And then it exploded through the muzzle.

For a second, the Minotaur stared in confusion at the large hole in its torso. Then it crumbled into monster dust.

"A hydra and an empousa?" Espie demanded. She eyed the spear in Hana's hands, as if noticing it for the first time. "How are you still alive? And where's your protector?"

"There, uh, wasn't one," said Hana. Espie frowned at that. "Guess you really better come in then."

*~B~*


	3. II Esperanza

**Aaaaand chapter two. Do I got anything to say?**

**Can't think of anything much.**

**On a different note, can any of you guess who Hana's parent is? Hint: impaling the hydra with wood, besides the other stuff. Any guesses about Rayleigh's?**

**And "Hana" is, by the way, also an Arabic word. I did not stupidly put together a common Japanese name with an Arabic surname. Not that any of you asked, but just putting it out there. Pronounced ha as in laughter.**

**Lastly, thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

**And now, onwards. Warning: moderately high levels of exposition.**

**Obligatory Disclaimer: I own PJO and HoO as much as Annabeth owns a pet spider.**

***~B~***

**II**

_**Esperanza**_

It should have been such a good day. Espie now knew for sure a favorite game of the three hags' on Olympus was "Mess with Es."

She'd woken up in a good mood, knowing that Aunt Hazel was coming over for a visit. Unfortunately for her, she forgot to mind her surroundings, that being the Hephaestus Cabin and all, and nearly got decapitated by the latest gizmo. The others kids seemed to believe battle training was the best way to improve their reflexes. Let them spend three hours with her siblings, and they'd come out eternally jumpy and paranoid. Or was it uncles and aunts? Gah. Godly relations.

With two hours before Aunt Hazel was scheduled to arrive, and no projects to distract her at the moment, Espie was unbelievably bored. For an ADHD demigod who was the daughter of _the _ADHD demigod, that was torturous. With nothing better to do, she switched one of Mr. D's Diet Cokes with vinegar and then spent the rest of the day wandering.

Mr. Jackson constantly marveled at her state of un-dolphin-ness.

And then the general alarm went off sometime after lunch. Mr. D kept saying something about a Titan at the borders. A Minotaur too, he'd added seemingly as an afterthought. Before any panic could erupt, he decreed, "Let's have Esmeralda go check it out."

Evidently, the vinegar trick had worked. Really, if he was the god of wine and technically beverages in general, couldn't he just, like, turn it back into Coke or something?

_And then _one of the cannons misfired, almost incinerating the four newcomers.

Yup, the day couldn't possibly get worse.

Campers stared and whispered as she led the four new demigods towards the Big House. The tall girl seemed uncomfortable under the stares. "Hannah, right?" Espie asked her. "Don't worry about the stares. Happens every time someone new arrives. And I'm pretty sure they're whispering about me, not you lot."

"Thanks. It's Hana, by the way." She sounded like she was tired of making that correction.

"Hana? Sounds Japanese."

"It's also Arabic for 'gift.'" She sounded like she got that question a lot too. "Why would they be whispering about you? Sorry," she added quickly, "I didn't mean to be nosy."

"Nah, it's fine," Espie replied. "When you're half demigod and half Titan, that does tend to happen."

Hana almost stumbled at that. She stared at Espie, not with shock or fear, but with amazement and … was that familiarity?

Behind them, she heard the redhead speak, "They have a forty foot statue made of gold. Sure. What next?"

"How 'bout the Golden Fleece casually hanging from that tree's branches?" the shorter of the two boys said. Something about him felt off to her.

"I wasn't asking you," the girl replied, not politely. "And that can't be the real one. Oh, great. I've already started calling myths real."

"So what you're saying is they have a _real _dragon guarding a _fake _shiny doormat."

That shut the girl up. Espie smirked at 'shiny doormat.' "I didn't get your names, by the way," she said glancing back.

"Tall-and-aloof is Ian, rude girl here is Stone and I'm Rayleigh," the boy said, pointing to the others in succession."

"I can make my own introduction, thank you very much," Stone retorted. "And don't call me Stone. It reminds me of … never mind."

"Fine. Call her Batman's sidekick, then."

"It's _Robyn,_" she snapped.

"How many demigods are here at the camp?" Ian said, speaking to Espie for the first time. The guy was silent enough that if he didn't have an imposing stature, he would've melted into the background.

"Around several dozen, or more," Espie replied. "Plus a bunch of satyrs, a lot of naiads and dryads, a few dozen harpies, one old dragon, one hundred-eyed dude, one centaur teacher and one irritable god." Espie could've sworn she saw a few vines poke out of the ground for a second before vanishing.

"A teacher centaur? Chiron?" Rayleigh asked.

Espie paused, surprised. "You know your mythology. I'm impressed."

He shrugged. "I used to find anything fiction more interesting than my real life. Now … well, that depends."

"Who's Chiron?" Robyn asked.

"We'll meet him soon. Don't freak when he gets out of his wheelchair, though."

"I just got attacked by a giant two-headed snake-dinosaur, my friend turned into a fire-brained vampire, and you blew up a bull-headed freak."

Espie chuckled at that. "You've got a point. We're almost there–"

A massive blob of water crashed down on her, leaving her completely drenched.

Of course. There was one guaranteed way her day could have, nay, _definitely would have, _gotten worse.

"What the?!" Robyn cried out in alarm. Espie heard them scrambling back. That meant she was probably on fire. Sure enough, angry red flames were flickering across her body. She also realized that none of the water had spilled or splashed onto the others. As if it had a mind of its own. Which, of course, it did.

"Y'know, moving that blob of water this far from the river wasn't easy. And I'm honestly surprised you didn't even see it."

"Jackson," Espie muttered under her breath.

Sure enough, that insufferable, irritating, annoying, good-for-nothing son of a gorgon was standing right there, leaning on a tree with hands in his pockets.

"Say, did you really put vinegar in Mr. D's Coke? I'm impressed."

"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You."

"Oh come on, you're already dry," he said, that cheeky grin only widening. "Oh, hey!" he said, noticing the others. "You guys newcomers?"

"Yes they are, and I was on my way to take them to Chiron," Espie replied through gritted teeth. "And then, _you _happened."

"What?" He almost sold the innocent did-no-wrong voice. Almost. "No harm done."

"_No harm done?! _You could've ruined all my clothes! Again!"

"Which, given that they're fireproof and you're a walking heater, didn't happen. Ergo, no harm done. And that only happened the one time, anyway."

"Jesse Jackson, I swear on the–"

"Hey, whoa! Let's not get carried away here," a new voice said.

Jesse and his father Percy were so similar, Espie sometimes wondered whether the former was a clone, and if so, if she could re-clone him and make a much less annoying version. Both had the same shade of green eyes, with that small twinkle of mischief. Both had the same black hair. The difference, aside from age, was that Jesse was built scrawnier. He was among the skinniest people at Camp Half-Blood.

He got uber-strong hydrokinesis, and what did she get? Super LEGO-building skills and the power to freak out dryads. Jealousy might have played a part in her starting training with Aunt Hazel to learn to control her mother's abilities. _Might have, _she emphasized to herself. She couldn't ask for her mom's help since what Espie could do, being a grandchild of Hephaestus, was different. She didn't want to, either. And the only other person who understood magic that well was Aunt Hazel.

Cutting her musings short, she turned to Jesse's father. "Sorry about that, Mr. Jackson," she said, not quite sorry about that. "Um, these guys are the newcomers and, well, I was gonna take them to Chiron."

"Chiron and Mr. D are with Rachel. But bring them to the big house, anyway."

Hana stirred. "Jackson? You're Percy Jackson?"

He turned to her, surprised at being recognized. An all too familiar smirk appeared. "Ah? Are you a fan of mine?"

"Don't kid yourself, Dad, you're not that famous," Jesse said.

"Hey, if you can have your fun, then so can I. Espie, could you do the introductions?"

"Sure thing. Tall guy there is Ian; your fan–"

"My _dad _is his fan. Actually, no, he's a friend."

"– Or not, is Hannah–"

"_Hana._"

"– that; the other guy is Rayleigh, and she's Robyn. Guys, this is Percy Jackson, one-and-a-half time savior of the world. Mr. Insufferable over there is his son Jesse, who is less than remarkable."

"Less-than-remarkable just practically dunked a pond on you," Rayleigh noted.

"And that was _not _easy," Jesse quipped.

"Shut up before I torch you."

Mr. Jackson turned to his son. "Hey, be a little nice to her. Thanks to you, I'm the only one she doesn't call 'Uncle,'" he complained.

"Excuse me, Mr. Jackson," Robyn said. "I still don't get this whole demigod business, so …"

"Let's get ourselves some seats in the Big House first. Then, we can talk. Jesse, can you go tell Chiron, Rachel and the wine dude that the new kids are waiting?"

"Aye, captain," Jesse replied, before, thankfully, leaving.

Mr. Jackson looked over the group. His eyes rested curiously on Hana's spear for a moment, but he decided not to comment. Then he raised an eyebrow at Espie. "One-and-a-half time savior?" he demanded.

"One-third-and-one-seventh-time would be more accurate, but that was a mouthful."

"Come on, give me a bit more credit," he complained, although he was smiling. "By the way, you're still on fire."

"Ah. Right." With a little effort she made the flames go out.

"Next time you go inferno, a little warning would be nice," Rayleigh said. "Something like, 'Flame on!'"

"And lose the shock value? Nah," Espie replied.

"You sound like Ephialtes," Mr. Jackson commented. "Anyway, let's go."

A few minutes later, they were all seated comfortably in the Big House. A few years back, under her parents' direction and Chiron's assent, they had renovated the place and made it bigger. Her dad called it the Bigger House, now. The porch had rebuilt to twice its original size. The eagle weathervane was replaced by a flashier one. Sometimes it got hard to tell which way it was pointing because of the shininess. At Chiron's insistence, the living room was left as is, still looking like it was invaded by the Amazon jungle. There were more couches, and Seymour the leopard head now had a friend beside him.

Mr. D almost did complain about the changes, however small, until her Dad designed a room for him with a personal extra-large Coke vending machine and an arcade filled with an assortment of Pac-Man games.

Espie introduced the newcomers to Jesse's mom Annabeth and to her Aunt Hazel. Strangely, Hazel was looking at Hana suspiciously. Espie chose to ignore it. If she was a threat, then there wasn't much she could do with a grand total of six demigods surrounding her.

Rayleigh began recounting their tale, Hana filling in here and there. Mr. Jackson frowned when he heard about the hydra and Aunt Annabeth's eyes widened at the mention of the empousa. "We haven't seen one of those since the battle with Gaea," she said.

"The battle with who, now?" Robyn asked.

"Never mind. Go on."

Hana continued the story. Mr. Jackson chuckled at what Mr. Blofis had told the four to relay to him. He glanced at Annabeth, and Espie almost heard the silent conversation that took place.

Mr. Jackson: We're going tonight.

Annabeth: Really? A blue cake is all it takes?

Mr. Jackson: What? It's _blue_.

It ended with Annabeth rolling her eyes. At the same time Rayleigh took over for the conclusion.

"And then we got here, and she almost blew us up," he said, pointing a thumb at Espie, "and then a Minotaur showed up and she _did _blow that up."

"Couldn't you have left out Fiero's malfunctioning?" she grumbled.

He stared. "_Fiero_?"

"What? It can't have a name?"

Wisely, he decided not to comment.

"What I don't understand," Aunt Annabeth began, "is how you got away from the empousa so easily. I mean, no offense to any of you, but they're immensely dangerous."

"It said something about there not being any choice since there weren't many left," Rayleigh said. "And … no, that's about it."

It was clear to Espie that he was hiding something. Annabeth noticed it too, as evidenced by her narrowing eyes. Neither commented.

"It makes sense," Aunt Hazel spoke up. "We haven't seen any for a long time. Something or someone may have wiped them out or something."

"But then why aren't they coming back? Seventeen years is more than enough time to reform," Mr. Jackson countered.

"We can worry about that later," Annabeth said. "I'm more curious about how there were four demigods in one place, with one who knew she was a demigod, apparently, and yet none of our protectors found them. Nobody's found a demigod at Goode High since three years back."

Espie had also been wondering about that. Four demigods in one place was a powerful monster magnet, multiplied in strength by the fact that Hana knew she was one. They shouldn't have gotten past the first _day _without event. And yet, according to their story, one empousa waited and scouted for two years before trying to take care of them.

"Maybe that's why that empousa was hiding for so long," Hana suggested. "I mean, normally, would they wait two whole years before having a known demigod within their reach for lunch?"

"Hazel?" Annabeth asked. "You're our Mist expert. What do you think?"

Aunt Hazel frowned. "Theoretically, it's possible. Something or someone could've used the Mist to hide them from monsters."

"But isn't the Mist exactly what _monsters _use to track demigods?" Mr. Jackson questioned.

"Yes, but that only started after a monster called the Lamia repurposed it. So, if someone still knew how to, they could bend the Mist to mask a demigod's scent."

"The Mist?" Robyn asked. Before someone could answer, Rayleigh interrupted.

"Whoa, hang on. Are you saying that demigods have this … smell that things like Amy use to find them – or in this case, us? Even if they can't see us?"

"Well, yes," Annabeth answered. "What are you getting at?"

"He can go invisible," Robyn informed. Rayleigh shot her a glare, but she ignored it. "And even when he was right in front of Amy, she didn't know he was there until he reappeared and punched her."

Mr. Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Nifty. Just like your old Yankee's cap," he told Annabeth. She frowned. "It wouldn't have worked well against an empousa if they concentrated. Those things can even tell when a dreaming demigod is watching."

"Are you sure there was no protector there?" Hazel asked. "Someone who always wore a hat, maybe?"

Hana shook her head. "I never saw a satyr."

Aunt Hazel turned to regard her. "See, that's just it. How do you know so much about all this? As far as I can tell, you're new here too. You don't have an SPQR tattoo, so you're not from Camp Jupiter either."

Aunt Hazel's words made them all turn to the tall girl. Espie made herself more alert. She noticed Mr. Jackson put a hand in his pocket.

"You're also carrying a weapon that's neither bronze nor gold; it's silver. That leaves a possibility that you're one of the Hunters of Artemis. A smaller possibility is that you're an Amazon. But if you were either, then what were you doing all by yourself at Goode High?"

"She transferred in last year," Robyn offered.

"You're not helping anyone, Stone," Rayleigh said. The atmosphere in the Big(ger) house had suddenly turned tense.

"And finally," Aunt Hazel said, her gold gaze seemingly piercing through Hana, "you're wearing a Mist disguise that I can't remove."

Both Jacksons shot to their feet. Mr. Jackson's pen was in his hand. Robyn also got up and edged away, eyes fixed on Hana. Ian, who Espie had forgotten was even there – he was that quiet – didn't change his expression, but frost formed on his hands. Espie was aware of her own right hand igniting. Only Rayleigh made no move.

Hana sighed. Slowly and cautiously, she took off her spear and put it on the ground. "I'd almost forgotten about the disguise," she said.

"She can move that without touching it," Robyn warned.

"Not helping," Hana muttered, shooting her a look. Ice crept noiselessly from Ian's feet and soon the spear was fully encased.

"Hazel, why can't you remove her disguise?" Annabeth asked.

"If it's something made by the gods and they actually put some effort into it, then I can't do much. I can't tamper with stuff made by the gods … or by Titans and giants."

Espie knew that Aunt Hazel was seriously good at Mistbending. Heck, she'd heard the story of how she'd beaten an immortal sorceress with ease (though her dad may have been exaggerating) but as far as she could remember, there were no stories of her aunt directly messing with a godly Mistbender.

"Do we keep her here and get Rachel, or do we ask her to remove it?" Mr. Jackson asked.

"I'm not sure even Rachel could see through it."

"Nothing's strong enough to hide from an Oracle," Hana said.

Mr. Jackson turned to her. "How did you know she was an Oracle?" he asked sharply.

"It was either that or a child of Hecate. Look, I only have this disguise because my dad asked Hecate for that small favor. Normal people … they kinda freak out."

"Why? Are you a Cyc – no, no you can't be one," Annabeth said.

"Not a Cyclops, no."

"You said your dad was a friend of mine," Mr. Jackson said, narrowing his eyes. "Did you mean 'friend' or maybe something else?"

"I meant friend. Look, it's fine, I'll remove it," Hana said.

For a second nothing seemed to change. Maybe they were all expecting some drastic transformation to something very inhuman. Espie was looking for horns and a tail. Then Aunt Annabeth gasped and Espie noticed the difference.

Hana's irises had gone from black to bright silver – the same color as her spear.

"Silver eyes … holy Poseidon, are you _Artemis'_ kid?" Mr. Jackson asked incredulously

"No," she said, laughing slightly and nervously. "You of all people should be able to figure it out."

Espie remembered how Hana had reacted when she'd told her that she was half-Titan. At the same time, Rayleigh added, "She can heal people's injuries ridiculously fast, by the way."

What happened next exceeded all of Espie's expectations. Annabeth staggered back and fell into her chair. Mr. Jackson dropped his pen. The semi-loosened cap came off as it hit the floor and Robyn flinched away – oddly, before it grew to a full size sword, as if she knew it was about to happen.

Never in her life had Espie seen the Jacksons this amazed. Aunt Hazel was completely stumped by their reaction. "What? What is it?" she demanded. Neither person answered. Mr. Jackson kept glancing from the frozen spear to Hana's face and back, as if trying to remember how to put two and two together but his brain had forgotten what the number four was. Annabeth got back out of her seat and then she actually _hugged _Hana. Were those _tears?_

And Espie was just thinking that she'd seen everything. Annabeth let go and finally managed to ask, "H-how?"

Hana looked highly flustered. "That, uh, that's the one thing he never told me," she said. Seeming to realize that she wasn't going to get killed in various ways, she let loose a huge sigh of relief.

"That broom-loving, zombie-cleaning son of dirt," Mr. Jackson muttered. "I have half a mind to dump him in the Lethe again, but I guess he doesn't need it."

"Dad told me that if I met you, he wanted me to tell you that he's sorry for not visiting."

"Sorry? _Sorry?_ When I see him next, the first thing I'm gonna do is throw the nearest river at him. And _then _he can make his excuses," Mr. Jackson promised, looking mad but at the same time overjoyed.

"I – I still can't believe it," Annabeth said, trying hard not to grin. "He's actually alive!"

"Who? Who's alive?" Hazel asked, clearly frustrated with the strange turn of events.

"I told you about Iapetus, right?" Mr. Jackson said. "The Titan that helped us out of … you know, there?"

Nearly two decades since their trip down in Tartarus and they still couldn't talk about it easily. Aunt Hazel had told Espie that those two would never really heal from that kind of wound. But that wasn't what she was thinking about at the moment. She stared at Hana in astonishment. "Your dad's a Titan? Cool!" she exclaimed.

"Um … okay. Hey, can I sit down now? I feel like my legs are gonna collapse soon."

Without waiting for an answer Hana sank into her couch. Comprehension dawned on Hazel's face. "You're – she's Bob's daughter?"

Rayleigh snorted. Espie turned to stare at him. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just, all this tenseness and then, Bob. Uh, no offense to your old man, Hana. Or to anyone else named Bob."

Espie stared at him further. Finally, she decided on the verdict. "You're a weirdo."

"Says Miss Fiero," he countered. Espie smirked.

The ice on the floor melted and then evaporated. Espie's fire went out. Mr. Jackson was still muttering and cursing, "Bob, that Einstein-haired …"

"By the way, how come you didn't react at all to what just happened?" Espie asked Rayleigh. He shrugged. "I decided to believe 'Good powers, good people,'" he replied.

"Well," Mr. Jackson exhaled, shaking his head. "That settles one thing, I guess. We can discuss the attack and Bob being alive later at the campfire. While there's still some time left, it's time for explanations."

The Jacksons gave the new demigods the usual 'Greek and Roman demigods exist' talk. Hazel apologized to Hana, who said, "No, it's fine. You were right to be suspicious. It just happened to be the wrong person."

Espie was quite happy, really. She was no longer the only demi-Titan at camp. Talking to Hana would be fun. And of course, seeing how many pranks she could pull on her.

"… So basically, one of your parents was a god. It's the missing one, whichever that is," Mr. Jackson finished. He turned first to Ian with a questioning look. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though," he clarified.

"… My father tries never to talk about my mother," Ian said. Espie noticed the distancing language he used. "The one time I asked … it wasn't pretty."

Mr. Jackson nodded. He knew to respect privacy, so he didn't ask further. He glanced at Robyn. "Mom, she … she's the same. Whenever she mentions dad by accident, she gets pretty pissed and refuses to talk for the rest of the day," she said, looking away momentarily.

Finally it was Rayleigh's turn. He shrugged again. "I never knew either of my parents. Grew up with an aunt who didn't want me and wasn't shy about making that fact obvious."

"Hmm. Anyway, normally whoever your godly parents are, they'll claim you at the campfire. But in case you want spoilers, we could try guessing. For starters, what do your parents do for a–"

The door slammed open and everyone jumped. In the doorway stood a furious Mr. D – Dionysus, god of wine – with a crushed can of Diet Coke in his right hand. He stomped in and for a second Espie panicked, _Oh great, my dolphin days are here._

Instead, he went straight past her. The crushed can morphed into a thyrsus, which he stabbed at Rayleigh. Rayleigh backed up hurriedly until his back was against the wall. The tip of the pinecone-on-a-stick pressed against his neck.

"Mr. D!" Annabeth exclaimed. "What – what are you doing?"

"Quiet, Annie Bell," he snapped. He looked different. Espie realized it was his harsher Roman aspect, Bacchus. Belatedly, she remembered that her hand was still on fire.

"He's not a Titan, you know," Espie blurted out. She cursed her big mouth.

"I said _quiet!_" he shouted. Bacchus glared at Rayleigh. "Now. How in all of Tartarus do you even exist?"

"Rude, aren't you?" Rayleigh said, all humor gone. The vines on the wall came alive and wrapped around him tightly, making him cry out in pain.

"Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" Bacchus asked softly. "Unless you want to die very painfully, I suggest you answer. And don't even think about it, Johnson," he said loudly towards Mr. Jackson, who was about to pick up Riptide. Vines grew out of the floor and covered the sword. Mr. Jackson froze and instead put his hand in his pocket.

"Did you hear me, boy?" Bacchus asked Rayleigh. _"ANSWER!"_

"I would if I knew what the hell you're talking about!" Rayleigh shouted back, struggling.

"Dionysus," a voice said from the doorway. "Let him go."

It was Chiron, the resident centaur. A few seconds later Jesse appeared, panting. He looked at the scene in shock.

"Lord Dionysus," Hana tried, "he doesn't know anything about–"

"I did not give you permission to speak, Titan child!" he roared.

"Bacchus," Chiron said, "What is going on? You've been acting strangely ever since the last giant war."

Bacchus laughed madly. Espie remembered his ability to instill madness. And suddenly she was very afraid of the god of Diet Coke.

"That's exactly it, isn't it? Ever since then, things have been changing far too much! And the biggest one is coming, Chiron! I can feel it! I've been feeling it ever since these Seven," he said, waving his spear at Hazel and the Jacksons, "got busy with kids! It got worse when _that _happened two years ago and it's gotten even worse today! Look around you! The proof is everywhere!"

The wine god was in a mad frenzy. There was a wild light in his eyes.

"What are you talking about? They're just demigods," Chiron said.

"Demigods?" Bacchus sneered. "Take another look. That mechanic's girl is also the daughter of a Titan who shouldn't even _be _on solid ground. Take another look at these four. One of them shouldn't be possible since her parent is incarcerated! As for the other three … Beings who have never mingled with humans are suddenly throwing their demigod spawn in our face! Do you remember now, Chiron? Do you remember what happened the last time a great change like this happened?"

"… No. No, I don't remember," Chiron said, frowning.

"Exactly! We gods, we all thought that this modern era would maintain the status quo! Well, looks like we were wrong, very wrong! But tell me again, Chiron: do you really not remember anything, _anything _about any massive upheaval in our history?"

"I answered no, Bacchus."

And with that, suddenly Bacchus slumped. Out of nowhere, he suddenly looked weak. Scared. Terrified. "Exactly. That's exactly it. You don't remember. I don't remember. And yet, I know for _sure _something happened in the past. A chapter of history that … that I can't seem to have any memories of."

Bacchus' appearance changed. He turned back into Mr. D with the potbelly and the loud Hawaiian shirt. The thyrsus disappeared and the vines receded. Rayleigh crumpled to the floor and Mr. Jackson snatched up his sword.

Mr. D took a shaky breath. "Campfire in fifteen minutes," he said hoarsely, before hobbling out. Chiron watched him go, said "Excuse me," and trotted after him.

Rayleigh coughed and got to his feet. "You okay?" Ian asked.

"… Yeah, I'm fine."

"What the hell did that guy mean?" Robyn demanded of him.

Rayleigh shot her a look. "If you're talking about him insulting my existence, then the same thing I get from my aunt daily."

Aunt Annabeth narrowed her eyes at that. "You didn't say your aunt treated you that bad."

"I didn't because it was nobody's business," Rayleigh said.

"Espie?" Mr. Jackson said. "Since Hana pretty much knows the basics, why don't you show her around? We'll talk to the other three."

Espie nodded silently.

"Is it just me, or did that guy look like he had … I don't know, PTSD?" Robyn commented. Aunt Hazel looked horrified at the prospect. "What could give a _god _PTSD? And why now? He didn't act this bad before."

"Annabeth and I will talk to Chiron later," Mr. Jackson said. "In the meantime, let's get you three through orientation."

They were acting as though nothing big had just happened. Espie realized that they were compartmentalizing. Mr. D's outburst could wait. Usual business first. Also, she knew Aunt Annabeth would be heavily scrutinizing them throughout, seeing if they had any unusual reaction to anything.

Therefore, she gave Hana a look which the girl seemed to understand. Picking up her spear she followed Espie out. As they passed Jesse, he asked her, "What the heck happened here?"

"Tell you later," she replied.

*~B~*

For two or so minutes the two of them walked in silence. Finally, Hana asked, "What did he mean by two years ago?"

Espie sighed. "Really? You pick the most depressing topic to start with?"

"Bad news first. Always the bad news first."

Espie almost smiled at that, but it quickly evaporated. "Around two years ago there was this … I don't know, a shockwave or something. It's hard to really describe but according to reports it had happened all over the country – some sort of force that felt like it was coming from all directions at once."

Hana frowned. "Yeah, I remember that. Dad was freaking out for hours afterwards. But what was it?"

"… Jesse was talking to Uncle Tyson and Aunt Ella – Mr. Jackson's Cyclops brother and Uncle Tyson's harpy girlfriend. When that wave happened … well, he described it as them erupting into monster dust. They disintegrated right before his eyes. At the same time, I was with the Jacksons and their pet hellhound. The exact same thing happened to her too."

Hana's eyebrows rose in astonishment. "It happened to just those three?"

"No. A few hours later Mr. D brought the report that practically every Cyclops on our side had suddenly been destroyed. Why Aunt Ella and Mrs. O'Leary – the hellhound – went with them, no one knows. Why that happened in the first place we don't know either. Right now we're just lucky that whoever is still here is still here, like Chiron, Argus and Peleus."

"I know who and what Argus is, but Peleus?" Hana asked.

"Oh, he's the dragon guarding the Fleece back at the tree," Espie replied.

Hana was silent for a count of three and then laughed. "I walked right into one of the worse days, huh? You know, even being a Titan's daughter, this camp feels way too legendary to be real."

"Oh, yeah!" Espie exclaimed, relieved at the change of topic. "You're like me! Your dad's the Titan of the, uh, the West, right?"

"Yeah. Who's yours?"

"I suppose you could call my mom The Amazing Calypso."

Hana stopped dead in her tracks and stared at her. "Did you just say Calypso?" she asked.

"Yep," Espie replied. She knew exactly what Hana was going to ask next. Everyone did.

"Daughter of Atlas, resident of Ogygia and, most importantly, cursed to never leave that place?" she demanded.

Espie grinned. "My dad would disagree with you."

"… You're telling me that your dad accomplished what every version of the story says is impossible?" Hana asked, disbelieving.

"Oh, yeah. He's the coolest dad in all of history," Espie replied. She didn't care what other people said. To herself, at least, she was not exaggerating one bit.

A random thought derailed all other running trains of thought. "Wait a sec …" Espie said, frowning. "My mom is Calypso, whose dad is Atlas, whose dad is Iapetus, who happens to be _your _dad … That would make you my great-aunt."

"Ugh. Let's not go there. Myth-wise, everybody is everybody's aunt or uncle or worse," Hana said, grimacing.

"Agreed. Say, you're the first Indian demigod I've seen."

"Bangladeshi, not Indian."

"Huh. No offense, but how come?"

"My mom was a university student here in the US when she, in her own words, came across a 'silver-haired weirdo snoring in an alley," Hana explained, smiling faintly. "She said that not ignoring him was the best decision of her life."

"So you were born and raised here?"

"Yup. Mom did take me and Dad to Bangladesh when I was eleven … I'd rather forget that happened. It was the second-most terrifying experience of my life."

"How?"

"For one thing, I got that Mist disguise made after that trip. You should've seen some of the elders' reactions…" Hana trailed off. "And for another, that was a very bad place for a Greek to be in."

"Uh, okay. What was the first-most?" Espie asked. Gods, she needed to learn not to be nosy.

"Being in that room a few minutes ago," Hana answered promptly.

Espie paused. "Oh, come on. Mr. Jackson isn't that intimidating."

"Not just him. The gold-eyed lady, I felt like she was using heat vision on me. And Mr. Jackson's wife, she was a different kind of intimidating. Plus, those were three of the seven who beat Gaia."

Espie smirked. "Powerful demigods are scarier than superstitious elders, is what you're saying."

Hana considered how to respond for a while. Espie recalled that she'd said that her mother's home country was a bad place for Greeks. But why?

"You know where Bangladesh is, right?" Hana asked. "Surrounded on three out of four sides by India?"

"Uh-huh."

"You also know that India has their own pantheon of gods, right?"

"There was this one time Mr. D mentioned something about that, yeah."

Hana frowned at that. "Figures. He was the one responsible."

"Sorry, what?"

"Never mind. The point is, being in that room was more nerve-wracking than being a Greek demi-Titan surrounded by overpowered Indian gods with a grudge against Greeks."

Espie couldn't help it. She burst out laughing, doubling over. "It's not funny!" Hana protested, embarrassed.

"Right … S-sorry," Espie wheezed. She still couldn't stop giggling. "Just that – you called them scarier than a bunch of gods! Ha! That's – that's too much!" she barely finished.

"I'm serious! And when Dionysus barged in, I thought I was dead for sure!"

"You?" Espie said incredulously. "I was already thinking about which aquarium I'd prefer to live in!"

Both of them started laughing. Hana stopped after a while, and her smile faded. "I wonder why he was suddenly–"

"Uh-uh," Espie interrupted, making an X with her arms. "No, no. No, no, no, no, no. You say one more grim or depressing word and I'll lock you in the Hephaestus cabin."

Hana's lips curled upwards. "That sounds quite like a threat," she remarked.

"Believe me, you wouldn't like it in there. Now then, there's just a bit of time left, so I'll take you around and circle towards the campfire."

"Well, in that case, lead the way, Miss … uh, what was your full name?"

"Esperanza Valdez, at your service. Now come on, let me give you a crash course on the cool stuff."

*~B~*

**I know, I know. Not the best chapter. The Dionysus bit feels veery generic for a fanfic. I've got plans, though.**

**In any case, I think I can only update this monthly until June rolls around. Then I can do it weekly or even faster.**

**Oh, and by the way, Mnemosyne, the person mentioned in the prologue … well, if you've either read Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods or know your mythology, then you'll know that Mnemosyne is the Titan of memory. Make of that what you will.**

**Either way, that's another chapter done. Punitor567 out.**


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